SIMS fingerprint analysis on organic substrates

ToF-SIMS has been used in the analysis of latent fingerprints (dactyloscopy) with a view to its use in forensic and biomedical applications. Szynkowska et al. have demonstrated that SIMS can be employed to produce images of whole fingerprints on inorganic surfaces such as steel, brass and glass.([1]) We demonstrate the detection of a range of exogenous materials in fingerprints including industrial lubricants, personal care products and pharmaceuticals on organic surfaces. We demonstrate fingerprint image acquisition on model substrate materials such as Si wafer and on more 'difficult' organic substrates such as polymeric coatings, paper and printed card. SIMS images, even when acquired at low resolution, clearly delineate those regions associated with the underlying substrate materials and those from the latent fingerprint. Fingerprint images acquired by SIMS imaging are capable of visualizing the minutiae associated with fingerprints with high resolution. Such minutiae are the key latent fingerprint features that must be visualized so that a forensic fingerprint examiner may make an identification. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.